Years back I ran a spreader as well. I worked with a crew that cleaned chicken houses in Northwest Arkansas. It was hard dirty work and there was always something to complain about. After 3-4 hours of 104 degrees F shoveling 8-10 inch cake off the floor into the spreader each of the team was about fried. After we were done for the day we headed to the creek for a swim and to cool down.

Now thinking back on those days, I have to admit that there are things about that work that I miss. The laughter, fellowship, the sense of accomplishment when you could see what you had done, and the appreciation of the farmer for a job well done are all so different from the stress, deadlines, isolation, and never seeing the end of the work of IT work we face in the industry today. Not that I would trade what I do now for what I did then, but when I am done with this who knows.

Compromise is part of life. What do you do though, when the person you are working with won't adhere to company policy? For example, a process is developed on adding and changing users on your domain, and to ensure they can access resources they need to access, a policy and accompanying procedure is developed. Yet some refuse to follow it, saying it is flawed, although it works perfectly.

Well, one option is for the person who feels it is flawed to suggest improvements. However if they won't do that, and simply go rogue, what option do we have? Compromise? On company policy?

I have worked with people who on my first day with the company, they started telling me what an *** my manager was, and by the way, the director is worse! Compromise? On what?

Compromise only works if both parties are willing to act like adults. Too often, one party is willing, but the other had a bad day, has a poor attitude, or any number of other issues.

I don't believe there is a fix, at least not one that will work. People have issues. We can attempt to do everything as best as we can, communicate as much as possible, offer suggestions, debate resolutions, and compromise to find middle ground. Sometimes, though, we find ourselves on the equivalent of a one way street where we clearly are going the right direction, yet others can't or won't recognize that they are going in the wrong direction. I find most managers don't want to deal with people issues. I don't see these things improving, but one can always hope.

In the meantime, let's continue to compromise where it is appropriate to do so. When it isn't, kick it to management, let them deal with it, and do what they decide. That is the only way to protect ourselves, because those who won't compromise usually have skill sets that help them shift blame.

I think a bit of perspective is due here. Try not to take life too seriously guys, or let stuff like this rent too much space in your head. Bottom line, is you won't get out alive, and no one is even going to remember any of it anyway.

"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ..."

After sitting around the office all day long, it's refreshing to get outside and either take a couple hour hike or mow the grass or something. As for shoveling horse poop, that have to be either a labor of love (you own horses?) or earning money on the side.

Steve, you need to read the chapter in Don Mitchell's Moving Upcountry: A Yankee Way of Knowledge. (Old farts, yes that is a pun on Don Juan). It's a marvelous combination of erudition, common sense, and humor targeted at himself and his ignorance about how to farm.

When he describes refurbishing a very old manure spreader and the, ah, "interesting" way in which it distributes its load, you'll be laughing.

If you like it, his sequel (Living Upcountry) has a fantastic chapter in which he decides to put half a septic tank in the basement as a combination in-house spa and solar collector heat sink. As he muses about it half out-loud to his sleepy wife at 2 a.m., she bolts awake at the juxtaposition of the phrases "septic tank" and "in the basement".